Following a voluntary wave of website blackouts in response to Congress’ pair of controversial anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA. The senate had its agenda full with plans to hold a vote next week on the acts, but following the protests Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was postponing the vote “in light of recent events.”

The House of Representatives also jumped on the postponing bandwagon:

The House of Representatives said it is putting on hold its version of the bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The House will “postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said in a written statement.

The moves came after several lawmakers flipped their position on the bills in the wake of widespread online and offline protests against them.

Tech companies, who largely oppose the bills, mobilized their users this week to contact representatives and speak out against the legislation. Sites including Wikipedia and Reddit launched site blackouts on January 18, while protesters hit the streets in New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) drew more than 7 million signatures for an anti-SOPA and PIPA petition that it linked on its highly trafficked homepage.